Criteria for Social Disclosure of Toponymic Status Rating

The Social Disclosure of Toponymic Status Scale is a 1-4 scale used to determine how open each MLK school is to the public (via its website) as to the fact that it is named for MLK and its evident level of incorporation of MLK-associated ideals in the mission or curriculum of the school.

1 – Website clearly denotes the school is named for MLK on the top level page, as well as includes a picture or short biography of MLK or announces incorporation of MLK’s associated ideals in mission statement or curriculum on top page or linked pages.

2 – Website clearly denotes the school is named for MLK on the top level page but any incorporation of MLK ideals is not evident on website.

3 – Website denotes the school is named for MLK in linked pages, but not evident on top level page.

4 – Website does not indicate whether or not the school is named for MLK and the researcher had to call the school directly or use other resources to determine toponymic status.

2 responses to “Criteria for Social Disclosure of Toponymic Status Rating”

Interesting ranking but I am curious to both how this affects the stereotype and how prevalent it is. For instance, how could a school not be named in honor of MLK but still, in some sense, be associated with that name? Also, are you planning on evaluating whether or not the incorporation of MLK’s ideals affect the success of a school, as denoted in the difference between 1 and 2?

I’m interested in seeing if any correlations come up when one takes into account how strongly attached the school is to the person of MLK. Some of the schools have been very difficult to even determine if they were named after MLK. For instance, the school is known as “King Elementary” and after a lot of digging, I was able to determine that it was a MLK school. Other schools have his picture on their website, his bio, some of his ideas as part of their mission statement or curriculum, and his full name on the front of the building. With this wide variation in presentation, I thought it would be interesting to try to rate it to some extent and see if there is any correlation to other variables. I don’t believe it is something that would directly affect any education outcomes but it could be useful for further research later on. I think it could correlate with transfers if people perceive it to be a MLK school and want to move their kids to a different school. If one found the higher number schools have less transfers, then the scale could become a relevant factor. It probably isn’t relevant as much for my current research, but I’m trying to compile as much as I can data-wise since I’m going through all these websites anyways!